Jurors see a photograph of slain Memphis police officer Sean Bolton during the first-degree murder trial of his alleged killer, Tremaine Wilbourn. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.(Photo: Linda A. Moore)

The residents of Summerlane Avenue and the first officers to arrive after Memphis Police officer Sean Bolton was shot told a Shelby County Criminal Court jury on Thursday what they saw and heard as officers tended to his shattered face and lifeless body.

Their statements led off the second day of testimony in the first-degree murder trial of Tremaine Wilbourn, who is charged with killing the five-year Memphis Police Department veteran on Aug. 1, 2015.

Defense attorney Juni Ganguli said in opening statements on Wednesday that Wilbourn never intended to shoot Bolton. Witnesses have testified that Wilbourn wanted them to record his interaction with the police, which was less than a month after Darrius Stewart, an unarmed 19-year-old was killed by a now former MPD officer.

Prosecutors objected when Ganguli attempted to reference the Stewart shooting, and the jury was directed by Criminal Court Judge Lee Coffee to disregard his statement.

It was Christopher Lanier who contacted police on Bolton's radio after the shooting.

On Wednesday, the jurors heard from the relative who had illegally parked his Mercedes-Benz on Summerlane as he prepared to deliver marijuana to a customer. (That man told the court his life was in danger and the media was prohibited from using his name.) Wilbourn, a long-time friend, had asked to ride along.

When Bolton flashed his light in the illegally parked car, the owner of the car ran, leaving Wilbourn in the passenger seat.

Lanier's nephew, Marquis Wright, testified on Wednesday that he was smoking in his uncle's driveway when the relative ran, Bolton pulled Wilbourn from the car, they scuffled and Wilbourn fired on Bolton.

Sean Bolton(Photo: MPD)

Lanier said he heard about nine gunshots when his nephew came inside and said someone had shot a police officer.

"I went outside because I thought he was lying," Lanier said.

Lanier found Bolton lying in a driveway, face-down with his hands covering his face.

"I told him to be still, I was going to try to get him some help," Lanier said.

Bolton, he said, didn't say anything.

As neighbors tried unsuccessful to connect with 911, Lanier used Bolton's radio to call for help.

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Christopher Lanier used officer Sean Bolton's radio to call for help after Bolton was fatally wounded on Aug. 1, 2015.(Photo: Linda A. Moore/The Commercial Appeal)

Officer Jacoba Boyd knew Bolton, 33, before he joined MPD. They were also former U.S Marines.

Boyd was working the night Bolton was killed and was one of the officers searching for him after dispatchers were unable to contact him. He heard Bolton's last transmission with only a portion of his number and detected the sense of urgency in Bolton's voice and how it abruptly cut off.

Shortly afterward there was an unfamiliar voice on the police radio asking for help, Boyd said.

"Was it unusual to hear a citizen on a police radio?" asked prosecutor Leslie Byrd.

Wilbourn pleaded guilty in 2017 to the carjacking, gun and ammunition charges and was sentenced to 28 years. At the time of the shooting, he was on supervised release after serving 10 years in federal prison for bank robbery.

Also on Thursday, jurors saw crime scene photographs and other evidence, including the bullet-proof vest Bolton was wearing, the digital scale and baggies of marijuana in Lanier's relative's car.